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UK Labour leader Corbyn stakes his future

on vote to remain in EU
By Chris Marsden
6 June 2016

Jeremy Corbyn is attempting to position himself as the

key figure defending Britains continued membership of
the European Union.
Last Thursday, the Labour Party leader delivered a
keynote address before selected activists and reporters at
the Institute of Engineering Technology in London in
which he sought to distance himself and Labour from the
damaging association with the Conservative government
of Prime Minister David Cameron in the Remain
campaign. On the same day, Cameron was given a hostile
reception by audience members in a Sky TV debate.
But Corbyn trod a fine line, basing his criticisms of the
Tories largely on their role in blocking supposedly
progressive EU measures and portraying them as the real
guilty party in the imposition of austerity and other
attacks on working people that the Leave campaign
blames on Brussels.
He began by taking an even-handed swipe at
myth-making and prophecies of doom dominating the
campaign, citing Chancellor George Osborne for warning
of a recession in the event of an exit from the EU. A
vote to Leave means a Conservative Government would
then be in charge of negotiating Britain's exit, he
warned, saying that would be a disaster for the majority
of people in Britain.
For the most part, his speech was a hymn of praise for
all that is positive in the European Union, combined
with the claim that the EU could be reformed if there
was a radical, reforming government to drive that
agenda alongside allies in Europe.
Among the manifold benefits bestowed by the EU,
according to Corbyn, were clean beaches, restrictions on
pesticides that kill bees, measures against air pollution,
the encouragement of renewable energy, the termination
of mobile phone roaming charges, human rights
legislation, the protection of speech and press freedom, 28
days paid leave, equal rights for part-time workers,

guaranteed maternity leave and decent rights at work.

Only then did he make the Labour case for reform of
the EU in alliance with our allies across the continent.
That case consisted of a second shopping list, including
the strengthening of workers' rights across Europe, a ban
on the undercutting of wages, an end to pressure to
privatise public services, a collective approach to the
challenges posed by migration and the refugee crisis, the
democratisation of EU institutions and reforms to ensure
we generate prosperity across Europe to the benefit of
all.
It all sounded wonderful or at least highly promisinga
presentation that required Corbyn to virtually ignore the
reality of EU-imposed austerity and escalating militarism.
To the extent these realities were acknowledged, it was in
the context of pledges by Corbyn to fight for economic
protectionist measures. These included urging Cameron
to support reform of the Posting of Workers Directive to
close a loophole that allows workers from one country to
work in another and be paid less than local workers.
He also pledged to veto adoption of the Transatlantic
Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the trade deal
being negotiated between the United States and the EU,
which, Corbyn charged, would open up public services to
further privatisation and make privatisation
effectively irreversible, as well as allowing
corporations to sue national governments if regulations
impinged on their profits.
The Labour leader offered a rebuttal of the xenophobic
attacks on EU migration by the Leave campaign while
studiously avoiding opposition to Camerons intended
restrictions on benefits for migrants, an anti-immigrant
measure negotiated with the EU as part of the Remain
program. He stressed that some industries are affected
by the undercutting of wages, and some communities
can change dramatically and rapidly and that can be
disconcerting for some people. He continued: That

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doesn't make them Little Englanders, xenophobes or

racists. More people living in an area can put real
pressure on local services like GPs surgeries, schools and
housing.
However, This isn't the fault of migrants, but of
unscrupulous employers and a failure of
government.
Even these careful and circumscribed efforts to
distance himself and Labour from the Tories earned
Corbyn the ire of his partys right wing and the media.
The Financial Times wrote that he had, by claiming that
Treasury forecasts about the dire consequences of a vote
to leave were histrionic hype and myth-making,
carried out what one colleague described as deliberate
sabotage.
The Financial Times went on to say that Corbyns
statement that the biggest risk of recession in this
country is from a Conservative government was an
implicit criticism of other Labour figures who have stood
shoulder to shoulder with Tory ministers in recent weeks
to present a united front against Brexit. The newspaper
continued: They include Ed Balls, former shadow
chancellor; Alistair Darling, former chancellor; and Sadiq
Khan, mayor of London.
David Miliband, Tony Blairs favoured successor and a
former foreign secretary, insisted that Corbyn should
share a platform with Cameron as he had, adding, Where
centre-right and centre-left agree, we should say so.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, who has
repeatedly demonstrated her hostility to Corbyn, stated
that he had, as part of his Remain and Reform agenda,
listed almost as many downsides with the EU as
positives.
BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar wrote of
mutinous grumbling among backbenchers who, if this
referendum ends in the momentous outcome of a vote to
leave, will cast wrathful glances in the direction of their
leader.
On behalf of the trade unions, the new leader of the
GMB, Britains third-largest union, Tim Roache, told
Kuenssberg that he viewed the Labour leader as a
half-hearted Remain.
The pseudo-left groups in the UK are divided over the
EU. They either utilise Corbyns position to justify their
own support for a Remain vote, or, in the case of the
advocates of Left Leave, bemoan his missed opportunity
to create a crisis for Cameron and the Tories and hasten
the election of a Labour government.
Both positions conceal Corbyns real motivations. He is

not adopting either a correct or false tactical position over

how best to defend the interests of the working class.
Rather, he is towing the line dictated to him by the
dominant sections of British imperialism, who see
membership of the EU trade block as essential for
securing their economic interests and for the ability of the
NATO military alliance to function effectively against
Russia and China.
This is clearly demonstrated by his chosen allies in
seeking the reform of the EU. Corbyn made much of his
talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the
leader or Syriza, who was elected on a clear
anti-austerity platform to resolve his country's financial
crisis. Although Greece has suffered from austerity, he
said, the Greek president and the Greek people are clear
that their country wants to stay within a reformed
Europe.
Tsipras betrayed the mandate he had been given to
oppose austerity and is instead imposing the attacks
demanded of him, precisely in the name of maintaining
Greek membership of the EU. Greek workers have
mounted four general strikes against his government since
last November.
On the TTIP, Corbyn stated that his position was the
same as French President Francois Hollande, who had
said he too would veto the deal as it stands. Hollandes
Socialist Party government is presently the target of mass
working class opposition, due to its imposition of labour
legislation expanding the normal work week to 46 hours,
making it easier to sack people, and limiting the right to
strike. The labour reform was pushed through
parliament in the face of a wave of strikes and protests
involving millions of workers and youth, which were met
by the government with brutal police repression.
Notwithstanding Corbyns pallid left posturing, a
Labour government he headed would adopt the same
hostile position towards the working class as those of
Tsipras and Hollande.

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